083: History of Marriage - Part 1

Published: June 20, 2020, 3:40 p.m.

Marriage is a culturally recognised union between people. The ceremony of marriage is called a wedding.

Marriages may be conducted for legal, social, emotional, financial, spiritual, political and various other reasons.

Early marriages started as strategic alliances and the parties marrying each other usually have no say in the matter at all.

Some specific rules exist about who is allowed to marry. Certain relationships are forbidden from marrying.

In modern times, interfaith and same-sex marriages are common and part of many societies around the world.

Marriage happens when the parties bring government into the commitment!

Most countries require a civil marriage and registration of the marriage to be considered valid and not just the religious ceremony.

Crazy facts:

In Ancient Greece, if a woman's father dies without a male heir, she can be forced to divorce the nearest relative. Even if she has to divorce the first wife.In some cultures, marrying to the spirit of a deceased person was also conducted to strengthen the family bond.A Roman statesman married off his wife to his friend to strengthen their bond and then remarried her when the friend died.Upper-class aristocrats usually had arranged marriages and practised adultery to help nurture the marriages. Weird.People from lower strata of the society in Europe, like peasants, had to pay a fee to marry someone they loved, else the village decides for them.It some parts of the world, loving your spouse too much and calling nicknames was all considered to be impolite.

Sources:
Wikipedia
The Spruce
Psychology Today
Live Science
International Business Times

Image by marla66 from Pixabay

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